What are you Cooking the Week of January 4, 2026?

[Mike Nolan]

I'm making a big pot of chili today.

Spread the word

      

  

  

[Joan Simpson]

I made pizza with sausage, pepperoni, red peppers, banana peppers, onions,black olives,mushrooms and mozzarella cheese. It was good and that will be supper, breakfast and supper again.

Attachments:

You must be logged in to view attached files.

[BakerAunt]

Your pizza looks yummy, Joan! We had leftover roast chicken, dressing, and gravy, with microwaved mixed vegetables. I had some of my cranberry and dried cherries sauce. Leftovers are good when you have a big day in the kitchen.

I made yogurt on Sunday.

I also cut up apples to fill my 3 ½-qt. and 6 ½ qt. slow cookers. I started after dinner, and it was around 11:30 p.m. when I added the sugars and spices to each and plugged them in to cook overnight. This is the apple butter recipe that I made last year and the year before, after Mike posted a link to it. I have enough apples from the seconds we bought that I will be able to make a second batch later.

[Joan Simpson]

Leftover pizza.

Your apple butter sounds good BakerAunt.I use to love that long ago, my mom made it too.

[Mike Nolan]

Yeah, it's an easy recipe and pretty good, though I increased the spice level quite a bit.

I didn't go apple picking last fall. Just didn't have the time.

[BakerAunt]

I awoke on Monday to the lovely smell of spice from the apple mixture in the crockpots. I let them go for about an hour longer, as I was busy. The big crockpot switches to warm after ten hours. The little one (Montgomery Wards) chugs along until I turn it off. I put the contents of the big one into my largest, deepest bowl before using my stick blender. The contents were nicely contained; had I done it in the crock, I would still be cleaning up. I put the pureed apple mixture back into the big crockpot, added the vanilla, then moved the contents of the smaller crockpot to the large, deep bowl and pureed it, before adding it to the big crockpot. It fit perfectly. I tasted it and decided to add another ¼ cup brown sugar and another 1/4 cup white sugar, as well as 2 tsp. more of cinnamon and ½ tsp. additional nutmeg. I also added another ½ tsp. vanilla. I asked Scott to taste it, and he thought it was fine. I then let the mixture simmer in the uncovered crockpot.

Although the recipe states two hours, I was cooking down a recipe and a half, and these apples were watery, so I kept an eye on it and kept stirring occasionally. As it approached three hours, the mixture mounded nicely on a spoon. I transported the crockpot out to the Annex, where I had the electric canner set up with sterilized jars. I ended up with six pints and a single 1-cup jar.

As Mike notes, the spices need to be increased from the base recipe, and I also add allspice and cloves. I think that the spices, and the amount of sugar and vanilla, depend in part on the apple variety. These were seconds, and I did not recognize many of the names. There were also more yellow apples than I usually like to use.

[Joan Simpson]

I had the last of the taco burgers and fruit.

[RiversideLen]

Your pizza looks delicious, Joan!

I made some chicken veggie soup and tacos.

[BakerAunt]

We finished up the dressing and had more of the roast chicken and gravy, as well as microwaved frozen peas.

[Joan Simpson]

No supper for me, I took my brother in law to have a colonoscopy today and we ate at a buffet afterwards and it was good, ate too much so no supper here.

Thanks BakerAunt and Len the pizza was better the next day!

[Mike Nolan]

Interesting coincidence, I had a colonoscopy today, too, so I'm still eating a bit light. (I'm hoping to get back on a more keto-friendly diet, too.)

[cwcdesign]

I've been reading about everyone's delicious meals and glad to hear that colonoscopies are over. I'll have mine in the spring (I think).

On Monday, I made a mushroom stroganoff from NYT - I read all the comments and incorporated several into the recipe which I think made it easier. The recipe recommended serving over mashed potatoes or buttered noodles, but I had two sweet potatoes I needed to use (baked than mashed) and they don't need butter. I enjoyed it for 3 nights and put the rest of the mushrooms in the freezer to enjoy over pasta some night when I don't feel like cooking.

We finally have a confirmed date for my reverse shoulder surgery. February 12th at 12:30 pm - a long time to be fasting 🙄 I am looking forward to getting rid of the pain.

[BakerAunt]

For dinner on Wednesday, I roasted a bone-in, half turkey breast that we found at the grocery store yesterday. I checked the internet for recipes and directions, and the directions are all over the place, with some sites not allowing me to look unless I lower my ad blocker (not going to happen). I rejected those that required overnight brining, as I needed it for dinner, as well as those with copious amounts of butter. Suggested temperatures ranged from 325-400 F with times for 20 minutes per pound up to a lot longer. In the end, I did a hodgepodge. I rubbed it with olive oil, sprinkled on dried sage and thyme, then put some sprigs from my rosemary plant atop it. I started it on a rack at 385 F for 10 minutes, then lowered the heat to 325 F. I checked after 30 minutes, then after another 20, then at two or three more 15-minute intervals to get to 165 F. I splashed it twice with some white wine to make sure it did not dry out. The meat was moist and tender, so I would certainly roast it the same way again, but I will take better notes next time. We had a phone call from one of the kids, so I lost track of the timing. I made a sauce out of the drippings after deglazing with white wine.

To go with the turkey breast, I boiled some cavatappi pasta that I combined with a 4 oz. broken up log of goat cheese and some olive oil, with a sprinkle of black pepper on mine. We also had microwaved fresh broccoli. For dessert, I pulled out a small loaf of zucchini bread that I made in the autumn.

[RiversideLen]

Your turkey breast sounds delicious, BA!

I made salmon patties from a recipe that I saw on the internet a little while back. Not bad but just a little dry. I had it with mac and cheese (from frozen, Amy's) and some sugar snap peas, carrots and cauliflower.

[BakerAunt]

For dinner on Thursday, I made chicken salad from the rest of our roast chicken. I use a mixture of light mayonnaise and nonfat Greek yogurt, along with Dijon mustard, freshly ground black pepper, and dried dill for the dressing. I did not have any green onion, so I used some Penzey's dried onion. (Scott does not do well with regular onion.) I had three small red bell peppers, from the plants we brought in to overwinter on the porch, that were in the refrigerator, so I added those and some celery. I should have bought more celery last time we did the big shopping trip, as I prefer it be organically farmed. We had the chicken salad as open-faced sandwiches on the last of the Butternut Squash and Pepita Bread. I might try that recipe as buns for sandwiches.

Len--Salmon patties go extremely well with your Whole Wheat/Rye/Semolina buns.

[Author]

Posts